I think that too often people don't realize that metagame knowledge can go both ways. Your character has spent every minute of this life in side that fantasy world, he has trained for years to hone his fighting skills, and he has honed his senses so that he makes good judgements (otherwise he would be dead)... meanwhile your sitting at a table eating doritos and pizza. All the DM has to say is that, "your characters years of experience tells him this looks like its probably too much for him to handle".
is it the coolest way to solve the problem, no, but it does solve the problem, and it still gives players the choice to disregard the info and do it anyway. Players have metagame knowledge the characters don't, but characters have in-world perspective the players don't, use that to your advantage when DM'ing.